Coleraine crash out after bowl out heartache

The rescheduled fixture against Dublin side Merrion had already fallen victim to the weather a couple of weeks ago when it struck again.

Unfortunately there was no break in the conditions which led to the dreaded bowl out to see who would progress to the next round.

Unfortunately for the Sandel Lodge boys it was the hosts who came out on top winning the bowl out 3-2.

It was a bad day all round for the North West sides.

With Donemana imploding at Queensway, there was further gloom for Brigade and Drummond against NCU.

Drummond slumped to an astonishing batting collapse in a rain-delayed tie against Carrickfergus.

With Anthony Martin (5-19) running riot, at one stage Drummond were an embarrassing 21 for seven and in danger of not reaching 50.

Carrick wasted little time in chasing down the small target. Michael Gilmour was in typically belligerent form, hitting six boundaries in his 26 from 29 balls. He was one of two victims for Neal Stewart but Pat Botha, the South African professional, and Alex Haggan were unbeaten as the home side got over the line by seven wickets.

CIYMS survived a scare before beating battling Brigade by seven wickets at Belmont.

The NCU club looked to be in total control after dismissing the North West club for just 142 in a game reduced to 45 overs per side. It looked to be a routine chase but Brigade, who won at Belmont in the Ulster Cup last season, soon had the home side in all sorts of trouble at 16 for three.

the tie turned on a partnership between captain Nigel Jones and youngster Karthik Rajavelu. The latter, who only made his CI debut on the opening weekend of the season, took 21 balls to get off the mark but he was soon impressing in a 118-run stand.